Officers find stolen guns

By KEITH KINNAIRD

News editor

SANDPOINT — A preliminary hearing is pending for a Bonner County man implicated in a string of thefts in Bonner and Boundary counties.

Shane A. Huggins is currently charged with possession of methamphetamine and two counts of grand theft by possession of stolen property, although authorities anticipate further criminal charges. Huggins, 43, is free on $35,000 bail while the case is pending. The hearing to determine if he should stand trial on the felony charges is set for Feb. 12.

Huggins was arrested after Bonner County Sheriff’s deputies searched his Elmira camp trailer and areas adjacent to it on Jan. 21, court records show. Deputies found six firearms wrapped in plastic trash bags near the camp trailer.Two of the weapons found in the bag — a Smith & Wesson semiautomatic assault rifle that retails for more than $1,000 and a predecessor to the Tec-9 semiauto pistol — were confirmed stolen during burglaries, the arrest report said.

A safe found in the trailer, which was reportedly stolen during a Boundary County burglary, allegedly held different types of meth paraphernalia, the report said. A cache of a more than a thousand rounds of .223-caliber and 9-millimeter ammunition — the type of rounds fired by the two stolen weapons — was also found in the trailer.Deputies, according to court records, also seized a trove of other unspecified items that are suspected to have been stolen. The arrest report said enough property was seized that it would take time to link the items with theft victims. Tawnya Suzzanne Williams, 40, was charged with possession of meth in connection with the sheriff’s raid, court records show. She is free on $25,000 bond.